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Thu May 13, 2021 6:41 pm

Anyone fall for the old "Loaded Condenser" trick in the last, oh, 40 years? :shock: For those that haven't, shouldn't this be a right of passage for our old cars to their next "conservators"?

Thu May 13, 2021 10:21 pm

Maybe set a few loaded ones on a swap table...for the shopper who has to "Touch" everything?? :shock:

Fri May 14, 2021 4:41 am

Apparently after 40 years of playing with old VWs I haven't been a victim (yet) of this prank. Pray tell, How does one "load a condenser" and especially how is it done so that the loader isn't zapped themselves? Now I'm gonna be afraid to touch anything at the next swap meet...

Bill

Fri May 14, 2021 4:52 am

An old friend of mine told me about a prank some old timers played at the county fairgrounds when he was a kid. They brazed a nail to a silver dollar and put the nail through a hole in one of the grandstand seats. They then hooked an old model-t coil to the nail with alligator clips. :D

Fri May 14, 2021 7:04 am

BulliBill wrote: Apparently after 40 years of playing with old VWs I haven't been a victim (yet) of this prank. Pray tell, How does one "load a condenser" and especially how is it done so that the loader isn't zapped themselves? Now I'm gonna be afraid to touch anything at the next swap meet...

Bill
The condensor holds a bit of charge from the coil until the points give it a ground through the spark plug. If you pick up a random condensor off a joker's swap spot, you can become the spark plug.

Pro tip: don't touch strange condensors at swap meets. It's not like you ever need one anyway. I have only had one go bad on me in 30 years and hundreds of thousands of miles.

Fri May 14, 2021 7:15 am

My Senior year of high school, I came into class a bit early and saw a condenser sitting in every one of our chairs. I also saw my jokester instructor taking off his rubber gloves at his podium. This was the day AFTER he had explained condensers, and how they hold a charge.
I didn't touch it, but one by one as students came in...."bang". And that continued as every one of us just sat watching the next student come in. It was pretty funny. :lol:
Probably not very politically correct by todays school standards. But funny!

Fri May 14, 2021 8:33 am

Lost two condensers over 35 years, big back fire, then dead. I carry no less than 4 extras in my travel box.

Fri May 14, 2021 12:18 pm

Long-roofs wrote: Lost two condensers over 35 years, big back fire, then dead. I carry no less than 4 extras in my travel box.

Well I guess you're good to go for the next 70 years. :lol:

Sat May 15, 2021 11:37 am

Lind wrote: BulliBill wrote: Apparently after 40 years of playing with old VWs I haven't been a victim (yet) of this prank. Pray tell, How does one "load a condenser" and especially how is it done so that the loader isn't zapped themselves? Now I'm gonna be afraid to touch anything at the next swap meet...

Bill
The condensor holds a bit of charge from the coil until the points give it a ground through the spark plug. If you pick up a random condensor off a joker's swap spot, you can become the spark plug.

Pro tip: don't touch strange condensors at swap meets. It's not like you ever need one anyway. I have only had one go bad on me in 30 years and hundreds of thousands of miles.

So you're saying I should only get condensors free of charge :lol:

Sat May 15, 2021 6:53 pm

motofly196 wrote: My Senior year of high school, I came into class a bit early and saw a condenser sitting in every one of our chairs. I also saw my jokester instructor taking off his rubber gloves at his podium. This was the day AFTER he had explained condensers, and how they hold a charge.
I didn't touch it, but one by one as students came in...."bang". And that continued as every one of us just sat watching the next student come in. It was pretty funny. :lol:
Probably not very politically correct by todays school standards. But funny!

We would charge up a condenser on a snowmobile or lawn mower engine in shop class, then toss it to some unsuspecting guy across the room. Good times.

Sat May 15, 2021 6:54 pm

Long-roofs wrote: Lost two condensers over 35 years, big back fire, then dead. I carry no less than 4 extras in my travel box.

I think I have only had a couple of them fail, too. Coils are another matter.

Sun May 16, 2021 4:22 am

I used to run a facility with excimer lasers with big ass caps.

These were big enough that the charge would kill you.

I also learned that leaving these ungrounded, they could charge spontaneously, so it was a safety violation to leave caps without a Bus bar on them